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Thursday, 19 July 2012

POLICE SEAL PARLIAMENT FROM PROTEST

Heavily-armed state police sealed of the Swaziland
parliament to stop protestors delivering a petition.

About 1,000 parents and teachers were stopped 500m from
parliament yesterday (18 July 2012) and told they could go no further. They
were calling on the Swazi Government to find a solution to the indefinite
teachers’ strike over pay that has been going on for a month.

They also want parliament to pass a vote of no confidence
in the government; scrap the recently introduced 14 percent Value Added Tax;
and scrap ‘circular No. 1’, an order that allows government ministers and parliamentarians
inflated financial benefits.

Teachers, civil servants and nurses are on strike in
Swaziland, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch. They want pay rises of 4.5 percent.

Strikers have endured rough treatment from Swazi police
who have used rubber bullets teargas and batons to attack peaceful protestors.

The Centre for Human Rights, Swaziland, said, ‘The
ongoing series of protest marches and strikes have crippled the education
system as no lessons have been offered in public schools country wide in the
past month.

‘The state responded by bringing contempt of court
proceedings against leaders of the teachers’ union SNAT (Swaziland National
Association of Teachers), seeking their incarceration in jail for a period of
30 days. The matter is still in court.

‘The economic crisis, education crisis, and other social
ills currently gripping Swaziland have begun to have telling effects on other
sectors of society as well. In a two-day protest action that ended yesterday by
public transport operators in the city of Manzini, police shot an innocent
bystander, Bonginkosi Mkhonto, in the stomach for watching protesting transport
operators. Other incidents of police brutality were reported during this
protest action.

‘The public operators’ protest action came after a public
bus driver was fined R4800 by a court, when police refused to let him pay a R60
on-the-spot fine.

‘Ever since the public service strike actions began,
several innocent civilians have been butchered by state security forces. Tear
gas, sjamboks, rubber bullets, fists and other weapons have been used on school
children as young as nine.

‘In other incidents, school children were made to do push
up and carry stones as a form of ‘punishment’ by trigger happy state police
officers.

‘In most of these violent situations, the state police
often claim they were provoked, hence the decision to unleash violence on
unarmed peaceful protestors. To date, there is no record of members of the
security officers who have been prosecuted for violating human rights.’

The Centre added, ‘It is worth noting that Swaziland is
party to a number of African Union and United Nations human rights instruments,
including the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR). Peaceful protests are also protected by
the country’s 2005 constitution, yet police continue to violate human rights
with impunity.’